


Halves and Halve Nots

by epsilonAbsol



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
Genre: F/M, Kinstone AU, M/M, Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2019-02-22 09:27:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 20,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13164048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/epsilonAbsol/pseuds/epsilonAbsol
Summary: Kinstone: A medallion representing a fated relationship. A kinstone is divided into two pieces, with each half being held by the person whom the goddesses have deemed the best fit for the other party. A person holds three kinstone halves and will often spend years searching for those who hold the other halves.- The Hylian EncyclopediaOn Hiatus





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so the summary is kinda bad, so I'm gonna put a little more detail about the AU minus spoilers for those who haven't seen the tumblr post I made about this AU before actually writing this (thanks to everyone who liked that post by the way, gave me motivation to actually try writing this again ^u^).
> 
> The basics of it are pretty much the same as any other soulmate AU, but my friend [@down-into-underland](http://down-into-underland.tumblr.com/) and I decided to use the kinstone concept from Minish Cap to represent how one's soulmate is identified. The idea in Minish Cap was to match up the kinstone pieces, so the idea in this soulmate AU is to match up the kinstone pieces. There are four colors of kinstones, red representing romantic relationships, blue representing platonic, green representing antagonistic, and gold representing mentor/student types of relationships.
> 
> A lot of the other stuff that was discussed in that post aren't really relevant with this part because it doesn't really have a whole lot to do with culture. If you haven't seen the post but want to, you can find it [here](http://dicaxasinus.tumblr.com/post/168731331207/so-down-into-underland-and-i-made-a-four-swords) (but be warned: you WILL see some of the stuff that we have planned for this).
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy this!

Waking up after being burned away in a burst of light was the _definition_ of unpleasant. It left you with colorful after-images flickering behind your eyelids, a burning ache in every single one of your limbs, and an all-consuming rage burning in your chest.

Shadow pushed himself up with a strained groan, his face twisting into a grimace and eyes just barely cracking open. He couldn’t believe how spectacularly his plan had failed, and all because of his own feelings, his own _weakness_ . How could he possibly have thought that he could trust one of those _heroes_? What had he been thinking?

Looking back, it should’ve been obvious that Vio was up to something. He’d said it himself, Vio was the most intelligent of the group. He shouldn’t have been so easily swayed to his side. The only reason why he would’ve said he’d do so that quickly was because he was trying to get information out of him to use against him and it had _worked._ Shadow had been totally convinced by his act after he’d 'killed' Green. Sure, Vio hadn’t exactly been there long, but Shadow _still_ never expected that. Shadow had liked him and his attitude, and he’d _really_ seemed willing to help him defeat both Vaati _and_ Ganon so that the world could be theirs and theirs alone. And Vio probably _knew_ that and used it to his advantage.

Vio really _was_ the brains of the group, and Shadow _hated_ it.

And look where trusting a Link had gotten him now: back in the Dark World, bracing himself against a wall of crumbling black stone, with pain shooting through every part of his body.

“You’ve failed.”

His eyes narrowed with further frustration, at the sound of the monotonous voice. Great. He must’ve reappeared in the Dark Palace. Now he’d have to deal with these zealots when he just wanted to be _alone_.

“Yeah?” Shadow retorted, turning to face the hooded, masked figure speaking to him. “I’ve still done more for Lord Ganon than _you_ have. _I_ stalled the heroes long enough for Vaati to gather enough power to defeat them. They can barely work together anyway! What’ve _you_ done?”

“We’ve been watching you through the mirror,” the figure commented, never losing his flat tone as he was joined by other masked individuals. “Your task was to divide the heroes and remove their threat. You failed. We saw them join forces to defeat you.”

Shadow’s jaw tightened. “That was _one_ time. If y’all were watching them, you’d have seen them fighting with each other every step of the way. Do you _really_ think that ‘cooperation’ is gonna last?”

“Perhaps long enough to defeat the Wind Mage.” Shadow scowled, preparing to snap at them again, but his mouth went dry and he paled as the figure continued. “We also watched you plotting against Lord Ganon. You were hoping to ally yourself with the violet hero in order to overthrow him. Do not think that he will forgive that so easily.”

“And I’m sure you’d know _all_ about what he thinks, wouldn’t you?” Shadow snapped, pushing his fear of Ganon out of his mind. Like hell he’d let these people scare him.

“We do. We have listened to his plans and are working to help him put them into action.”

“Yeah? And what’s he planning to do, kill me?”

“No,” the figure said, walking forward as Shadow’s mind raced to figure out what he meant by _‘no.’_ “He is not finished with you yet. You still have purpose to him.”

“The hell are you talking about?” Shadow said, turning so the figure couldn’t get behind him, but looking back to make sure he knew what the rest of the masked figures were doing. As they too approached him, he let his nails sharpen into claws, preparing to defend himself against whatever they were planning to do. “Vaati is still in the Light World, let _him_ do whatever Ganon wants!”

**_“He has other tasks,”_ ** a voice boomed, ringing in Shadow’s ears. **_“You have a second chance to enter the Light World and end the heroes before they reach the Wind Mage.”_ **

“I don’t want that chance!” Shadow shouted, jerking himself away from the hands that were gripping his arms and pushing him forward, toward the Dark Mirror once again. He was trying to claw every hand that landed on him to shreds, but they were always replaced by others. “I’m not going back there, I _won’t!”_

**_“You will. If you value your life, you will obey my commands.”_ **

“What if I don’t _anyway_ , huh?” Shadow protested desperately, the mirror growing closer and closer.

**_“Your insolence has gone far enough. You are returning to the world of light to stop the heroes. If you do not, you will remain there to burn away in the sun. You will have only this last chance.”_ **

The followers of Ganon had him trapped in a small ring before the mirror, hands still on his back as he stared at it with dread. They pushed him, and he stumbled forward as he begged, “No! Lord Ganon, please forgive me! I don’t want to go back to the world of light!”

**_“You are not forgiven! You still have a part to play. Rise again, shadow. While the Dark Mirror exists, you can exist in the Light World. Now go! Defeat the heroes!”_ **

Shadow collapsed the moment he had fully emerged, Ganon’s words echoing in his mind. His skin was crawling in the sun, even as it was obscured by clouds, and beyond that it intensified the pre-existing ache from the final attack the heroes had inflicted on him. He shook with pain and fear as he pushed himself to his hands and knees, but it was only when he looked to the side that anger entered his mind again.

The mirror had spat him out in the same room that the princess was being held. Because of _course_ it would. And she was staring at him, her expression looking _soft_ and _pitying_ , and Shadow couldn’t take it. “What are you staring at?” Shadow growled, the effect diminished with each shuddering breath he took. “Go away.”

She began approaching him, just as the leader of the followers of Ganon had approached him before pushing him into the mirror, and he shouted, _“Get away from me!”_ He sat up, though was still hunched over, gripping his arms like a lifeline. “And quit looking down on me! I don’t need your _pity!”_

She didn’t speak, but Shadow could still feel her eyes on him. His eyes flicked up to see her looking down, but more in front of him than _at_ him. Following her line of sight, Shadow almost panicked when he saw a blue semicircle resting on the ground. He didn’t know how it could’ve fallen out of its pouch, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was getting it back before the princess got any ideas.

He lurched forward to cover it, but his hand smacked nothing but the floor where it had been. Glaring up at Zelda, Shadow could only watch with anger growing in his chest as she turned _his_ kinstone over in her hands. She was looking at it like it was some kind of _curiosity_ , like she couldn’t believe that a _shadow_ could _possibly_ have a kinstone that _wasn’t_ just green. He bristled as she started running her finger across the rounded edges that marked the split, demanding, “Are you done? I’m sure it’s _so_ interesting to find out that someone like _me_ could have a kinstone, but-”

He cut himself off as he watched her reach for a small pouch on her belt. He didn’t know why he wasn’t moving to grab his kinstone back while she was distracted, but he felt rooted to the spot - like all he could do was watch as Zelda brought out a blue half of her own and looked at the two pieces. “What are you _doing?”_ Shadow asked, trying again to stand, but flinching back as the pieces fused with a flash.

“Oh, Shadow,” Zelda said, prompting Shadow to lower his arm from covering his eyes. “Do you really think the light will hurt you?” Shadow’s eyes were drawn directly to the object in her hand: A completed kinstone. _His_ completed kinstone. He didn’t understand how that was possible, how _Princess Zelda_ could have the other half. He couldn’t even find the words to question it, only stare at her in total shock. “You’re a Link too, you know. Deep inside, you’re really a hero.”

Nothing that had just happened made sense to him. Shadow was no hero. Just because his kinstone _somehow_ matched with Zelda’s didn’t mean that he was automatically some hero and that the light wouldn’t hurt him. The light had _already_ hurt him, how could she say that it wouldn’t? She didn’t know what she was talking about.

A loud hissing broke the silence, black smoke rising and snaking directly toward the princess. Zelda looked down in alarm, weakly calling for Link as she was lifted from the ground.

“Dark Cloud!” Shadow called, struggling to get to his feet. He’d gotten to one knee when he demanded, “Stop! What are you doing with the princess?”

_“I am doing as Lord Ganon commands. Once the heroes are defeated, Princess Zelda will be the last light in Hyrule. A world of true darkness begins with her death.”_

“I can’t let you take her out of this room!” Shadow was shaking with the effort of standing, but he stood firm, glaring up at the formless black mass. “Those are _my_ orders!”

_“Are they? Do you just want to keep Princess Zelda to yourself?”_ Shadow couldn’t help thinking _‘yes,’_ the kinstone that had just been formed at the forefront of his mind. But when Dark Cloud laughed, Shadow bristled with indignation. _“You shadows are deceptive,”_ it said, parting its smoke just enough for the princess’ sacred light to shine directly into Shadow’s face. As he screamed, it cackled, _“But so easy to see through! Get back to your true orders, shadow! And remember who it is that protects you from the light!”_

The ache from the Links’ prior attack was aggravated once again by Zelda’s own light and his eyes were burning from its intensity, but as Dark Cloud retreated, Shadow could see Zelda being carried off to somewhere that even _he_ couldn’t guess. He bowed his head in frustration, growling, _“Damn it.”_ He’d never admit to the angry tears that were welling up in his eyes - he’d claim that they were just because of the blinding light - but when he opened them again, he caught sight of a blue circle a few feet in front of him.

He crawled forward just enough to grab it, then sat up and stared at it. What was he supposed to do? He’d _just_ found the one person who wasn’t absolutely certain to hate him, and he’d _already_ managed to fuck it up - if he hadn’t already, of course. He’d already done a _thousand_ things to destroy her kingdom. Why’d she suddenly try to tell him that he could be a hero when he was just the hero’s _shadow?_

Shadow gripped the medallion tight enough that it would leave marks on his fingers before pushing the stone into the pouch on his belt where it clacked dully against a jagged-edged half of a green stone. He pushed himself back to his feet, ignoring the pain shooting through his entire body, and slowly trudged toward the stairs that led down the tower.

He might not be a hero - the Links were the only ones who could possibly defeat Vaati and _maybe_ Ganon, but they’d never be able to do that on their own. They didn’t know the first thing about the Tower of Winds, they’d be lucky if they figured out how to get to Vaati at _all_ , let alone in time to save Zelda. And Vio was the only one who knew how to _really_ defeat him. They didn’t stand a chance alone.

As he reached the last step, Shadow disguised himself, turning his hair blond and his tunic purple. He had time for one last trick. One that he desperately hoped the heroes wouldn’t see through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before anyone asks, yes I was looking at the manga while writing this. I figured that changing the dialogue would be messy and less good, so I stuck with the source. That'll only happen when I'm writing a scene that actually happened in the manga though, so if it didn't, it'll be original.
> 
> Anyway, hope you liked it! I hope to get more of this out in the new year! Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is more stuff that happened in the manga that I need to get out of the way before getting to the original stuff, but! There's little bits about the au in there, we'll be getting to the parts that are 100% au in like the next installment, trust me. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

He never thought that he’d be  _ glad _ to see one of the Links - though he never thought he’d match a kinstone either and, hey, look where he is now - but seeing Green as he turned a corner felt like a small miracle.

Shadow felt unsteady as he removed his hands from the wall and tried to stand up straight, taking a moment to get his balance before taking a step forward. But the moment he put his weight on one leg, his knee buckled beneath him. His breath was knocked out of him as he hit the ground, the impact jarring every bone in his body.

But he had to ignore that. There were bigger things at stake. As he pushed himself to his hands and knees, he called, “G… Green!” He hated how shaky his voice sounded, but there wasn’t much he could do about it.

Green’s head swung around to face him, and Shadow could  _ see _ the concern flood into his expression as he saw him on the ground. Or rather, as he saw  _ Vio _ on the ground.

“Vio!” Green called back, scrambling to his feet and rushing over to him. He reached toward Shadow, asking, “Are you okay? What happened to you?”

Shadow waved him off, pulling away from Green’s hands. “I’m fine, don’t worry about me. Zelda’s in danger.” He started getting his feet back under himself. “We’ve gotta get to her fast or the poison in the Dark Cloud kills her.”

“What?” Green looked alarmed, which was a good thing. Shadow hadn’t expected it to be particularly hard to convince Green that they needed to be quick about it, but it was still nice to have that confirmed. “How do you know-”

“I just  _ do, _ okay?” Shadow cut him off, avoiding the question that ‘Vio’ wouldn’t be able to answer. “Just come on, this way.” He said, pointing at the hall that would take them up the tower of winds.

Just as he got to his feet, another voice shouted, “Green! Vio!” They turned to see two other figures rounding a corner and racing toward them. Red’s relief was obvious on his face as he cried, “Thank goodness we found you guys!”

“Yeah, sure,” Shadow said impatiently, earning him a strange look from all three of the heroes. He ignored them, insisting again, “Just come on, we need to go help Zelda!”

Luckily, they didn’t protest as Shadow took the lead and guided them down the right halls and taking the right turns. He did his best to avoid supporting himself with the walls again, but apparently his efforts weren’t as good as he’d hoped they’d be.

“Vio, are you sure you’re okay?”

“I  _ said _ don’t worry about me,” Shadow snapped, realizing too late that it was probably  _ not _ something that Vio would’ve said. He could feel eyes on his back, but they didn’t comment. Shadow knew that  _ they _ knew something was off, but it was pure luck that they didn’t stop to ask ‘Vio’ how he knew all this again.

When they reached the end of a hall, the exit leading out into open air, Blue said, “Great. A dead end. Where are we supposed to go now?”

“It’s not a dead end,” Shadow corrected, kneeling next to a pedestal with an orb on top of it, which would probably look like just a decoration to someone who wasn’t familiar with the tower. “Just…” He tried to grip the orb and turn it, but his mind was swimming and his palms were sweaty with exertion, so they kept slipping along its surface.

Blue was the one to answer impatiently this time, snapping, “Are you going to turn this or what?” He grabbed the orb before Shadow could even respond, turning it with ease.

All three of the Links were gaping in surprise as a flight of stairs appeared before them, allowing them to cross to the next pillar. Green looked at him with shocked confusion, asking again, “How- How did you know that was there?”

“I,” Shadow started, scrambling to think of a believable explanation. “I learned a  _ lot _ from Shadow Link.” He didn’t wait to see whether or not they bought that, continuing, “Get up the stairs! Quickly!”

They were about to take their first step when a massive black hand shot out from the clouds beneath them, a disembodied voice booming,  **_“Where are you, little heroes?”_ **

Stumbling back, Green turned to Shadow with wide eyes and asked, “Is that hand a part of Vaati? He can reach all the way up here?”

Shadow nodded. “He doesn’t have a normal body. He’s stretching himself as far as possible to find y’all.”

“‘Y’all?’ Vio, what-”

The thought was interrupted by the rest of Vaati’s body erupting from the clouds, his single eye locking onto them.  **_“There you are,”_ ** he boomed again, swinging his huge, oversized arms into the tower above them. As the walls crumbled, he shouted,  **_“You cannot escape me!”_ **

Shadow was in no shape to join the fight - and beyond that it’d be a dead giveaway if he started using magic instead of the Four Sword that he  _ didn’t have _ . So instead, he shouted, “His weakness is the top of his head! Stab him there!”

“ _ How _ can you know that?”

“That doesn’t matter, just do it!”

Green still looked suspicious and confused, but nodded. “Okay,” he said apprehensively, but he proved that he was willing to trust ‘Vio’ by leaping off of the ledge. Blue and Red stopped in surprise, watching as Green hurtled sword-first toward Vaati.

The moment Green’s sword pierced him, Red cheered, “You did it! He’s shrinking! At this rate, he’s gonna disappear entirely!”

For a moment, Shadow almost believed that could be true. He wanted to believe it could be that easy, but he wasn’t naive enough to  _ really _ believe that . But still, even knowing what he did, Shadow felt a flood of fatigue fall over him when Vaati began growing again, laughing all the while.

**_“You thought I could be defeated that easily?”_ ** Vaati taunted, seeming to relish in the confusion on the Links’ faces.  **_“You thought that was all it would take to beat a demon?”_ **

They all looked startled and lost, but only Blue shouted, “Why won’t he just  _ die?” _

“Hey!”

Shadow stiffened, recognizing the new voice immediately. He couldn’t stick around to help them along - not now that their  _ real _ final member was back. Besides, he didn’t  _ want _ to stay anyway. Why should he want to be around the one who had betrayed him like that, even if he  _ had _ been trying to destroy Hyrule at the time? They were lucky he had decided to help them at all, considering.

While the others were distracted by Vio’s return, Shadow stepped back, dropping his disguise as he melted into the shadows on the walls. He just barely made it out of sight before Green turned around, trying to figure out who the fake Vio had been, but Shadow didn’t exactly wait to see how long it took for them to figure it out.

He managed to make it halfway up the stairs to the Dark Mirror before it became too much for him to continue moving along the walls. He fell onto the steps, breathing hard as he fought his exhaustion. He couldn’t stop here. Those heroes didn’t have a chance of defeating Vaati as long as the Dark Mirror remained, and  _ they _ were the only chance he had for saving Zelda - the  _ only _ kin he would ever find. He  _ needed _ to help them.

And hell, wouldn’t  _ that _ be a surefire way to make them  _ finally _ notice their shadow.

Shadow didn’t have it in him to stand again, so he had to resort to crawling his way up the stairs, arms shaking with the strain as he levered himself onto the next step. He couldn’t even force himself to stand when he finally made it to the top. He had to use a chair - the only furniture that had been allowed in the room - to climb to his feet.

He leaned heavily onto its back as he looked into the mirror. He saw the Links as their fight against Vaati continued. They looked like they were holding their own, but they couldn’t keep that up forever. Vaati wasn’t even tiring.

He pushed on the chair, still using it to keep himself on two feet, until it was directly in front of the mirror. The last clear image it showed was of the heroes defending themselves from flying rubble, cast at them by the windstorm that Vaati was conjuring.

The next moment, Shadow had lifted the chair above his head and brought it crashing down.

The sound of shattering glass rang in his ears just as the impact of the chair sent a jolt through the rest of his senses. But it wasn’t enough. There was still some of the mirror intact just along the frame. Shadow could still feel some of its magic sustaining him, so Vaati would still have that much too.  _ Any _ magic that he could use would be too much.

The Links’ shocked faces stared out at him from the cracked glass as he dragged himself behind the frame. It was sturdy, but nothing that one good push wouldn’t solve.

**_“What are you doing?”_ ** Vaati cried, flying into Shadow’s peripheral vision.  **_“Are you out of your mind, Shadow Link?”_ **

“Maybe,” Shadow admitted, turning to look at him. “Regretting what you did to my kinstones yet? Don’t know what kinda loyalty you thought that’d get you.”

**_“But the mirror is your life source as well!”_ **

“You think I don’t know that?” Shadow smirked victoriously, with a sense of satisfaction that Vaati would  _ see _ him destroy the mirror entirely. He reached down, arm shaking as he pulled that perfectly circular kinstone out of its pouch and gripping it tight. “I came from the Dark Mirror, and with its power, I woke you.” The stone was undoubtedly leaving red indents on his fingers and palm. “How fitting that I use it to destroy us both!”

He pushed forward, bracing himself as he fell over with it. Vaati’s panicked shrieks filled the air as that same jarring sensation ran through him again, and this time he knew it was done. All of the dark energy inside him was slipping away, leaving only his sheer, overwhelming exhaustion. His mind was swimming, the only thought that he could cling to being that he could still feel a slight weight in his hand, even as his grip slackened.

“Shadow!” someone shouted, a strange tone in their voice that Shadow’s hazy mind couldn’t put a name to. They rolled him over, his eyes lazily opening to see four colors and four faces hovering over him. One of them asked, “Did you break the Dark Mirror? Why would you-”

“Vaati,” Shadow interrupted weakly. “Is he gone?”

“He’s gone,” answered one of them, more familiar than the other's. ‘Vio,’ his mind supplied a moment late. “We defeated him. And it was thanks to you that we could.”

“Thanks to me?” That wasn’t something he ever thought he’d hear.

“Yeah, you saved us!”

“Huh…” As his eyes started drifting closed again, he said, “You’re... welcome?”

“Hey, hang in there!”

“Y’know,” Shadow started, finding his voice enough to speak clearly, if not as strongly as he’d like. “Shadows usually only ever follow its body. It never gets to lead the way.” He laughed weakly. “But  _ this _ shadow got in front of y’all and beat your enemy for you. Felt pretty good.” His tired grin slipped away again as he muttered, “But it still doesn’t make me part of the body.”

“Of course it does,” came one of the less familiar voices without hesitation. “You’re one of us. You’re our  _ friend!” _

That surprised Shadow into silence for a moment, but he felt everything getting heavy, yet also slipping away. Before it was all gone, he let go of the blue stone, distantly hearing it hit the ground, and asked, “Give that back to Zelda, would you?”

Then everything went white.


	3. Chapter 3

He wasn’t awake. That much Shadow was sure of. He felt like he was floating, the space around him continually shifting in different colors. It was almost like an ocean, and all he could do was drift wherever it took him.

_ “Young Ravio,” _ called a strangely gently voice, a brilliant blue light surrounding him.  _ “You have been misguided for so long.” _

Shadow puzzled over who was speaking, and especially over who this ‘Ravio’ was, because it sure wasn’t  _ him _ , when another light - red this time - appeared.  _ “You were not given the chance to save your own realm, but gave yourself to preserve ours.” _

He had a thousand questions - who they were, who they thought they were talking to, why the lights didn’t hurt, what the  _ hell _ they were talking about - but he found himself unable to speak.

A green light appeared, joining the other's, and for a moment Shadow saw three faces, ones that he’d never truly find the words to describe. The one that shone with green light smiled at him and said,  _ “Do not fear, hero from Lorule. We will take you home.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like to be dramatic so that's why this is being posted in a separate chapter despite being so short. Also, in case you can't tell, I like to shoehorn in as many things from different games as possible. Consider: traveling along walls (ie: through shadows) is a quality that a hero of Lorule has, and it's still limited by magic so he gets ejected from it after he starts running low on magic. Shadow has purple hair, Ravio has purple hair, the mirror can show people just about anything - just think about it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I probably could've had this done sooner, but uh. Breath of the Wild kinda took over my life for the past week so I had to tell myself that I'm not allowed to fight Ganon until I write this. I got all the memories so I REALLY want to fight him. So TADA here y'all go! I hope it's enjoyable even though it's a little shorter than I usually write!

It was quiet when Shadow regained awareness - not at all like it had been the last time he’d woken up like this. Actually, it just wasn’t at all like it had been. Last time everything had _really_ felt like he’d been torn apart with fire and there had been the followers of Ganon standing around waiting for him to get up. He couldn’t imagine that they’d wait for him to get up after what he’d just pulled.

But this time, getting to his feet didn’t hurt at all. Whatever room in the Dark Palace he was in was completely empty and he couldn’t hear anything echoing in the halls outside, but the torches were still lit. They must’ve left in a hurry, and Shadow hoped that was because they assumed that the mirror shattering meant that Ganon wasn’t coming back to bring them to the other world. It sorta _did_ mean that, but still.

Of course, that also raised the question of _how was he even here?_ He’d broken the mirror, so he couldn’t have gone back through it to get here, but that was the only thing that could’ve possibly brought him back. And honestly, he should’ve disappeared entirely when it broke, just like Vaati did. _He_ didn’t seem to be around here - if he had been, Shadow probably wouldn’t be because Vaati would’ve already tried to kill him for ruining his plans - so it just made no sense.

The only thing that he could think of that could even _try_ to explain what had happened was that weird dream that he’d had, but that was just a dream. It couldn’t _actually_ mean anything.

He’d been wandering around the halls of the Dark Palace as he tried to figure out what it all meant, and as he neared the area that had probably once been a courtyard, a high chirp interrupted his thoughts. He jumped back in surprise at the sudden noise, looking around for the source, only to find that it was just a little blue bird that was perched on one of the overgrown hedges. He relaxed - though he was a little frustrated that he’d gotten so on edge over a _bird_ \- and turned around to go back inside.

The chirps followed him, sounding closer than they had been before. A short glance behind him was enough to see that the bird was now perching on the knee of one of the statues that were on either side of the entrance. Shadow squinted suspiciously at it, wondering to himself what was _up_ with this thing, but shook the thought away and tried to ignore it. It was just a stupid bird anyway.

* * *

 While their victory over Ganon was still fresh and while Zelda was certainly glad that Hyrule was safe, something still didn’t feel quite right. Blue, Green, and Red were cheering loudly, and Vio had been smiling too, but Zelda could see that he had a troubled look in his eyes. Something was bothering him, but she couldn’t guess what that might be.

Vio approached her, reaching for something at his hip. “I don’t want to spoil the moment for everyone,” he started, the other three Links growing quiet as they watched him present the medallion to Zelda. “But we were asked to return this to you.”

She stared at the stone for a moment before finally reaching out and taking it from him. No one spoke, giving Zelda a moment to process what that meant. She broke the silence herself, asking, “What happened to him?”

* * *

 For what felt like the hundredth night in a row, Shadow was kept awake by a bird’s snoring. A _bird’s_ . There might not be many birds in Lorule, but Shadow was _pretty_ sure that they weren’t supposed to do that. Every night, there was just a piercing, high-pitched screech, and any time Shadow tried to go somewhere else, the bird _followed him._ It didn’t matter if he tried to escape from it through any of the hundreds of shadows that existed in the Dark Palace, it was as if the bird just _knew_ where he’d be.

Honestly, Shadow probably wouldn’t be able to explain why he put up with it. It was annoying and loud and clingy, but Shadow couldn’t find it in him to drive it off or hurt it. It was just a stupid bird, it probably didn’t know any better.

Besides, he’d probably go insane if he was alone in this place. He might be totally free to go wherever he wanted now, but at least he could be sure that there weren’t any monsters - ones that _weren’t_ on his side - in here. There were probably _thousands_ of creatures and people in Lorule that wanted his head. The Dark Palace was safe. He could be sure that he’d be fine there.

Sheee _ROOOOOW._ Sheee _ROOOOOW._

Scratch that. He wouldn’t be _completely_ fine. He’d never sleep again.

* * *

 “Princess, are you sure you want to do this?”

“Of course I’m sure, Blue. We wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.”

“Okay, but I’m just saying, it’s gotta be a _little_ risky to be trying to put the Dark Mirror back together.”

“He’s got a point, Zelda.” Green could _understand_ why she wanted to try doing this, but there were a _lot_ of risks involved here. “What if putting it back together lets Vaati come back? Or _Ganon?”_

“It should not, considering we don’t have the kind of magic that would allow us to recreate it _exactly_ how it was.” She spoke matter-of-factly; her decision had been made and she would not change it.

Green and Blue looked at each other, Blue looking like he wanted Green to say something and Green just shrugging because he didn’t know _what_ he could say. Ultimately, Blue rolled his eyes and said, “Listen, Zelda, we don’t even know if he’s _alive._ And even if he is, what if it’s a bad idea to bring him back? I mean, he _did_ try to take over the kingdom before.”

Zelda glared daggers at him. “And he might have _died_ trying to save it, since _you_ think he might be dead. His kinstone matched with mine, and that _clearly_ meant something to him since it led him to help us rather than hurt us.

“Past that, the magic that we will be using to bind the pieces of the mirror together is light magic. It will be impossible for Vaati or Ganon or anyone else to draw power from it on the scale that they did before. Vio and I have put a great deal of effort into thinking this through.” She sounded frustrated as she explained the plan, but took a deep breath and said more calmly, “I’m asking you to help me find these shards as a _friend_. Please don’t make me order it as a princess.”

Blue looked conflicted, but muttered, “Fine,” and went back to looking for the pieces of glass on the floor of the Tower of Winds.

* * *

 Shadow lazily spun his green kinstone between his fingers, watching its jagged edges and wondering if he’d ever figure out who he was most likely be destined to fight with forever. It could be literally _anyone,_ considering how many enemies he’d made in his life. Then again, he’d probably never have the chance to know if the halves matched because they’d be too busy trying to kill him for him to stop and say, ‘hey, got a green kinstone?’ And then _again,_ he’d never run into any one of those enemies again if he had his way. Hopefully if anyone ever came here they’d think he was a ghost who was haunting the place - though that wasn’t _nearly_ the scariest thing in Lorule.

Nah, it was pretty unlikely that he’d ever match another kinstone. One he’d never have the chance to match, one he’d never _have_ to match. It only figured that he’d find one of his kin then immediately know that he’d never see them again. This was _his_ life.

The bird chirped from its perch on a torch above him before hopping down to stand on his knee. It looked at the stone in his hands, cocked its head to the side, then pecked at it. Shadow raised his eyebrows at it, asking, “What are you doing? This isn’t bird food, pecking it isn’t going to get you anything.” He stopped like he was surprised at himself, then leaned his head back onto the wall with a laugh. “I’m talking to a bird. I really have lost it, haven’t I?”

It tweeted a short tune, hopping onto his hand, and this time Shadow didn’t bother shaking it off. He just picked his head up and said, “Y’know what? If I’ve gone crazy enough to be talking to a stupid bird, I may as well give you a name. Calling you ‘stupid bird’ is probably gonna get old.” It cocked its head again, looking curious as Shadow thought. “How about Sheerow. You’ve been annoying me with that noise long enough, maybe it’s time _I_ annoy you with it.” It made a high, cheerful chirp again like it was agreeing with him. “Sheerow it is then.”

A sudden light filled the room, surprising Shadow into flinching away from it and covering his eyes. The light wasn’t exactly _bright_ , but it was _clearly_ magic and Shadow didn’t exactly trust light magic after all of his experiences with it.

When the light dimmed further, Shadow saw a mirror hanging in the air before him. It was circular, with lines of light snaking through it and illuminating the jagged edges of black glass. Black glass that he recognized too well.

He scrambled to his feet, backing away from it, but Sheerow flew toward it, leaving Shadow confused about _why_ it would do that. Then, confusing him even further, he heard a voice like it was being telepathically sent directly into his head.

“Shadow,” Zelda’s voice said. “We can bring you back to Hyrule.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might be going kinda fast since there's not a LOT of time between Shadow's sacrifice and bringing him back, but ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ I don't know what else to put in there. I figure bringing Sheerow in was the big thing here and it wouldn't be enough to be on its own so I threw in the mirror stuff too.
> 
> I'm really glad that people like this so far, seeing all your comments really makes my day so thank you all! :D I hope to continue to write enjoyable stuff for you now that I'm in parts that are my own!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Early update! Sorta. I finished this the other day and got impatient. So I'm putting it up before it is actually Wednesday lol. Please enjoy!

“No,” Shadow said, shaking his head and backing away. “No,  _ fuck _ no, I’m not going back there.” What was there for him in Hyrule, the world of  _ light _ ? He could count on one hand the amount of actually  _ good _ experiences he’d had there, and even some of  _ those  _ had turned around to bite him. The only thing that tempted him to return was the thought of seeing Zelda and finding out what she  _ really  _ thought about being kin with a shadow, but that might end badly too - even if she’d somehow gone through the effort of putting a cursed mirror back together.

He might be wanted dead by pretty much everyone in his own world, but it was probably just the same in Hyrule. The only difference would be that he’d be found a  _ lot _ easier when he was in a castle that was actually populated, let alone one where a  _ princess _ lived. The knights of Hyrule wouldn’t have forgotten him, the Links’ father  _ definitely _ wouldn’t have, and they’d all be watching his every move, waiting for him to do  _ something  _ that they decided could threaten someone,  _ especially _ if that someone was Zelda.

Of course, he wasn’t afraid of them, he just knew when he was  _ vastly _ outnumbered and at an  _ incredible _ disadvantage. His power had come from the mirror. And even though he could feel  _ some _ of it again, now that it was imperfectly fixed, it wouldn’t be enough to defend himself from an entire  _ world _ . He had  _ some _ self-preservation instincts.

Zelda must have been able to hear his voice just as he’d heard hers, because the next thing he heard was, “Why not?” Like that wasn’t  _ obvious _ . “I’d like to be more familiar with one of my other halves, wouldn’t you?”

Shadow almost laughed. “Sure, if it didn’t mean being in a world that I almost destroyed.”

“But it’s also a world that you helped save,” Zelda insisted, like that made  _ anything _ that he’d done okay. “As one of your kin and as royalty, I can promise you that I can protect you from harm. You have friends here, you don’t have to be alone anymore.”

He  _ did _ laugh at that. He didn’t know whether that would carry through whatever was letting Zelda talk to him, but that was such a ridiculous thought that he couldn’t help it. “Friends? Pretty sure you’re the only one who would ever want me back there, Princess.”

Just as he said that, Sheerow looked back at him from where it had been perched on the frame of the mirror, almost looking like it was judging Shadow’s response somehow. He’d been about to tell it to stop staring at him like that, he didn’t need or want its input, but quickly realized that he probably shouldn’t address a bird when there was an audience. He settled for a silent glare as Zelda’s voice came back with more words that Shadow wasn’t buying. “That isn’t true. Green and the others helped me reassemble the mirror, they are also here to welcome you.”

That didn’t sound right. It wasn’t like Shadow didn’t remember what had happened after he’d broken the mirror - he did and he was still kicking himself over some of the stupid things he’d said - and after thinking back on it for a while, he realized that they hadn’t necessarily  _ meant _ the things that  _ they’d _ said. They could’ve just been saying whatever sounded right because they thought he was dying or something. Hell,  _ he’d _ thought that he was dying, so that was probably the main reason why he’d accepted it in the moment.

“And I’m sure they did that out of the goodness of their hearts,” Shadow muttered bitterly. Then, returning to a normal volume because he wasn’t sure if Zelda had heard that or not, he said, “Look, I’m not about to be stuck on the light side of that thing again. Thanks, but no thanks.”

“You’re worried about being trapped here?” It had to be Shadow’s imagination because Zelda almost sounded  _ surprised _ . “Shadow, no one is going to force you to stay.”

What.

“Are you sure about that? ‘Cause that’d mean giving me full access to it and I’m gonna have to seriously question y’all’s judgment if you’re actually planning on giving me that.”

“To pass back through it would require my power as well as yours, so you would only have to tell me if you wanted to return to the Dark World. If you had any malicious intent, which - based on your objections - I doubt you do, you would be unable to act on them.”

Well. That was news.

“Please, Shadow,” Zelda asked again. “If nothing else, would you agree to return for a short time? It could be for only a single conversation.”

He didn’t respond for a moment. There was still the possibility that this was a trap, that they Hylians wanted him to answer for everything he’d done and wouldn’t let him go back once he was through the mirror, but Zelda also sounded like she genuinely just wanted to see him again. Sheerow chirped, pulling Shadow’s attention back to the mirror, and he slowly started walking toward it.

It wasn’t like the Dark Mirror, which would let him see anywhere. Instead, it was like a window, showing him  _ exactly _ what was on the other side of the mirror - though the light that lined each shard obscured some of the image. The mirror definitely wasn’t in the Tower of Winds, Shadow could tell that just by looking at the wall reflected in the glass. It was probably somewhere in Hyrule Castle, if they were being at all cautious. Keeping it there and letting Shadow pass through it could be considered a smart move since they might be able to keep him contained, but it could also be considered the dumbest idea ever, considering Shadow could probably still get wherever he wanted. It’d be hard for someone  _ without _ magic to get him out of the shadows once he was there.

Zelda wasn’t looking at the mirror, but she looked upset as she looked to Green, who looked like he was reassuring her - probably because Shadow wasn’t saying anything. To his surprise, the only other one he could see there was Vio. He knew why Green was there, he was one of Zelda’s kin too and everyone who had ever been in Hyrule knew it, but why was  _ Vio _ there? Zelda must not have been exaggerating when she said that the Links were there to ‘welcome’ him.

Someone must have noticed him appear in the mirror because after a moment the three of them turned back to it, surprise written on their faces before Zelda’s expression was replaced by a gentle smile and Red appeared with a small wave. It was weird, and Shadow felt  _ pretty _ uncomfortable with all of them on one side staring at only him on the other.

He was pretty sure that his discomfort showed, but eventually he agreed. “Fine. But you better be serious about letting me go back if I want.”

Zelda’s smile brightened, and she  _ actually _ clapped her hands together. “Wonderful! Now, you must help me bring you through because the mirror still partially uses shadow magic. Touch the mirror and allow your power to follow mine, I believe it should be simple to follow once we begin.”

He hadn’t been entirely reassured by her lack of any  _ true _ explanation of what he needed to do, but honestly she had been right. He could feel her magic as if it were swirling around him, stinging a little as it shone on him. It didn’t feel as intense as anything he’d felt before, but it was unpleasant enough that Shadow instinctively used his own magic to block it. Then he could feel Zelda’s magic pulling toward the mirror, like it was prompting Shadow to follow it.

Just as he was doing so, something ball shaped dove into his tunic, startling him out of focusing his magic. But it was already in motion, and Shadow had the strangest sensation of dissolving and being pulled forward like a string.

Reconstructing on the other side was even stranger, and Shadow opened his eyes to sunlight and five sets of eyes on him. Zelda still had that bright smile, but Shadow was  _ very _ glad that she didn’t try to hug him or anything. They might be kin, but he didn’t exactly want to be touched when he’d just come back to a still potentially hostile place. “Welcome back, Shadow!”

“Yeah, welcome back!” Red looked almost as excited as Zelda did, and he turned to Blue and said, “I  _ told _ you it’d work!”

Blue waved him off, almost petulantly saying, “Yeah, yeah, you’re all good at magic. Good job bringing him back, I guess.”

Wow. Shadow was really feeling welcomed.

But at least Blue was the only one who didn’t bother trying to look happy to see him. At least he was being upfront about it, even if he wasn’t outright saying anything. Everyone else was being a little  _ too _ energetic. Or at least Red and Zelda were. Green’s smile was smaller than theirs, though it wasn’t hard to achieve that, and Vio… Well, Shadow wasn’t really keen on looking at him. He still wasn’t exactly over the whole ‘betraying his trust’ thing.

“Thanks,” Shadow said, trying not to show exactly how weird he thought this was. He didn’t know exactly where to go from there, and he was  _ pretty _ sure that everyone else felt the same. It was almost a relief - though a little startling - to hear a chirp come from Shadow’s tunic, drawing  _ everyone’s _ attention to the small lump there.

“Uh,” Green asked, “What’s that?”

With exasperation in both his voice and his expression, Shadow said, “A bird, hang on.”

“A… what?”

Shadow had to reach into his tunic to pull Sheerow out, dislodging its claws from where they were snagged in his shirt. Once Sheerow was in view, it looked at each of the strangers just as they stared at it. It chirped again before flying up and landing on Shadow’s shoulder.

“Why do you have a bird?” Vio asked, finally speaking up and forcing Shadow to look at him. At least Shadow didn’t have to acknowledge anything that he was feeling when he was talking about something that didn’t have any relation to Vio or anything that had happened before.

“It showed up after I went back to the Dark World and wouldn’t leave me alone. Apparently going to another world entirely wasn’t enough to get it to stop bothering me.” He sent a pointed look toward his shoulder the best he could, but Sheerow just started preening its feathers and ignored him.

“Why are its eyes red?”

Shadow turned his pointed look to Green and asked, “Got a problem with red eyes?”

It took less than a second for Green to realize who he’d just asked that question. “No! It’s just weird to see on a bird, that’s all!” Watching him rush to defend himself was pretty funny, Shadow wouldn’t lie.

He couldn’t suppress a smirk and a short laugh, but he still decided to give an honest answer. “We don’t really have a lot of normal birds around, they might all be like that for all I know.”

There were a few hums of curious fascination, which sounded like they came from Zelda and Vio. Red piped up, “Does he have a name?”

“I started calling it Sheerow.” It was a little embarrassing admitting it, but what did it matter? He’d named a bird that had been hanging around him for weeks, it wasn’t that weird.

“That’s so cute!”

Well that ruined it.

Shadow shrugged, suddenly uncomfortable again. Zelda must’ve noticed, because she clapped, getting everyone’s attention before an awkward silence could arise, and said, “Well,  _ I _ would like to have a conversation with my kin, so I must ask all of you to leave us. I’m sure Shadow would prefer staying near the mirror, am I correct?”

“Obviously.”

Blue looked like he wanted to protest, as did Green - which, fair, it made sense to be wary of leaving the princess with him - but Red and Vio seemed to be more understanding. Red wasn’t too surprising, but Vio leaving without protest was, considering he should probably be the one  _ most _ suspicious of him because right then, he was the only one who  _ knew _ Shadow.

Well, whatever. All of them left after a minute, so it was just him, Zelda, Sheerow, and the mirror.

Not awkward at  _ all _ .

“So,” Zelda began, sitting down. “May I ask why you decided to turn on Vaati so easily?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not a very perfect and happy reunion but I figured that it wouldn't be, y'know? I feel like he'd have a lot of shit to work through before he can let himself be comfortable around them all. But fear not! We will get there! Trust me, I'm looking forward to that too.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: I'm gonna post on Wednesdays!  
> Also me, an impatient bitch: What's a schedule
> 
> I apologize for misleading you all lmao, I'm probably gonna post whenever I finish things, I just happen to be on top of things right now by some miracle. I hope you all like angery boys and this new chapter!

For a split second, Shadow was almost surprised that _that_ was the first thing she asked, but it really wasn’t surprising at all. Of course that would be the first thing that came to mind - though he was pretty sure she probably planned this. When one of your other halves turned out to be the same person who had attack your kingdom, of course the biggest question you would have would be about why he suddenly changed his tune.

Shadow snorted derisively, crossing his arms and breaking the eye contact that he’d barely made in the first place. “Start with the easy questions, why don’t you?”

“Would you prefer if I asked something less severe? Perhaps your favorite color or why you had such a different disposition when you emerged from the mirror in the tower?”

Something about how _casually_ she suggested that left Shadow feeling like she’d already read him like a book. It was another thing he should’ve expected. After all, it wasn’t like this was the first time she’d looked at him like she knew exactly what he was thinking. She’d done that _several_ times in the Tower of Winds. It had been annoying then, and Shadow was pretty sure that wouldn’t change now - even if she _was_ his kin.

“Eugh,” Shadow groaned, looking frustrated as he turned back to Zelda. “Fine, you want to know why it was so easy? It was ‘cause I didn’t like Vaati anyway. The only reason I was with him in the first place was because it was convenient.”

“Convenient for your mission to conquer Hyrule.”

“Yeah,” he muttered, shrugging like it wasn’t _that_ big a deal. It was something that happened, he hadn’t succeeded, and now it was over. Of course, that wasn’t _everything_ , but Zelda didn’t need to know about-

“I heard you say something about ‘Lord Ganon’ as you came back.”

Damn it.

He gripped his arms tighter and he felt the tip of his hat flicking anxiously, betraying his discomfort and frustration over how _much_ she noticed and how much she remembered about probably every event she’d ever witnessed. “What about him?” Shadow asked sharply. “If you’re about to ask what _he_ wanted, I’m pretty sure you’re smart enough to figure that one out for yourself.”

Zelda’s tone was still so frustratingly calm as she asked, “I was going to ask why you were begging for his forgiveness and why you sounded so scared.”

He bristled at the suggestion that he’d been _begging,_ even though he knew that he had done exactly that and didn’t want to admit it. “What do you think?” Shadow spat, regretting his decision to come back here if _this_ was all she wanted to ask him about. “Do you honestly not understand why I wouldn’t want to come back to a place where _some people_ had just burned me out of existence?” He saw Zelda frown, with that pitying look in her eyes that made Shadow’s skin crawl. “And would you _quit looking at me like that?_ ” He exhaled in sheer frustration, looking down before turning his sharp gaze back to Zelda. “Look. I couldn’t do what I was supposed to, Ganon decided I had to try again, and he sent me back. Then you matched your stone with mine, I decided to help you, and that’s _it_. Are we done now?”

At the very least, it was a little gratifying to see Zelda at a loss for words. That couldn’t be something that happened very often, but _she_ was the one who kept prying into things that weren’t her business. They might be kin, but he didn’t have to tell her _anything._ The only reason he’d agreed to talk at all was because he had his own questions, but if she kept asking about things like that, Shadow was willing to leave without any answers.

Zelda’s voice was still soft - he didn’t understand how it could be and he didn’t like it - but it almost sounded like _she_ was the one begging for him to give her a solid answer. “But _why?_ I apologize for upsetting you, but I cannot help but believe that there must be another reason other than simply ‘not liking’ Vaati, especially because interfering with Ganon’s ultimate goal would not benefit you in the slightest.”

“There doesn’t _have_ to be,” Shadow defended, far more harshly than necessary. “I don’t have to explain my reasons to you. All that _should_ matter to you is that I decided to help at all - you’re _welcome_ , by the way.” Zelda looked shocked again, and looked like she was about to say something, but Shadow interrupted her before she could even start her sentence. “I’m going back to the Dark World, I’m not staying here.” There were some tweets of what could have been protests right next to his ear, but he ignored them. “But before I go, I’ve got a question for you: why’d you even _try_ to match with me? Yeah, you recognized the pattern, but _why?”_

It was a pathetic question and Shadow knew it, but he had to ask. Still, he scowled at Zelda’s expression and even more at her response. “I did not believe that the goddesses would give me an other half who was wholly evil.” Shadow must have looked just as unimpressed as he felt because Zelda insisted, “I knew that there was good in you, Shadow, and I was right. You helped save Hyrule; you _are_ a hero. Matching my kinstone with yours only helped you realize that.”

He barked a short, skeptical laugh. “Right. So you matched kinstones with me to make me ‘realize that I can be good,’ is that it?” Zelda began to protest, but Shadow just kept talking, dismissively saying, “You just made me realize that I had better options than just following Ganon’s orders.” He turned away, stepping back toward the mirror. “Get me out of here. All this _light_ is giving me a headache.”

He didn’t turn back to look at her, but he could _hear_ her sorry expression as she said, “Alright. But please remember, you will always be welcome should you change your mind.”

Shadow just brushed her off. He didn’t care if he was welcome, there was _nothing_ for him here. There wasn’t much for him back in the Dark World either, but at least he wouldn’t have to deal with Zelda, who apparently thought that matching kinstones with him would make him want to stop Vaati, or Vio, who betrayed his trust - no matter how ‘good’ his intentions had been, or _any_ of the rest of them, who had only ‘welcomed’ him because Zelda had asked them to.

He readied his own magic first, preventing Zelda’s from stinging him again, and this time he was able to direct himself through without Zelda’s guidance. But that wasn’t _really_ a source of any pride; he couldn’t actually do anything with it. Besides, he was so consumed with bitterness that it was hard to think about anything other than how _little_ he cared about Hyrule.

A sharp peck on his ear interrupted his internal tirade, making Shadow jerk away and push Sheerow off of him. It chittered at him as if it were scolding him. “What? You could’ve stayed in Hyrule if you wanted to!” It didn’t stop, and Shadow only grew more frustrated, shouting, “Shut _up!_ I don’t care if you think I should’ve stayed, you’re just a _bird!_ Your opinion doesn’t matter! I’m not about to stay in Hyrule where the princess is just going to ask about _feelings_ and look at me like I’m some kicked puppy!”

Sheerow finally stopped chirping, just looking at Shadow with what he interpreted as more fucking _pity_. He made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat, muttering, “Go fly somewhere else. I don’t need you.”

For once, it listened to him, though it just perched on the mirror again. Even when Shadow left the mirror’s chamber, it remained there. For once, Shadow found himself in a room with complete silence; it was just him, his resentful thoughts, and the lingering warmth that could only be felt in the world of light.

But he didn’t need Hyrule.

He didn’t need Zelda.

He didn’t need _anyone._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He's a very angery boy


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hell yea, managed to finish a chapter despite classes having started. I, personally, am proud of myself, and this chapter turned out pretty good, I think. Hope y'all like it!

Stewing in anger wasn’t hard. It was all too easy to focus on every way he’d ever been wronged and ignore stupid things like hunger, or cold, or thirst. He didn’t stay in one single room, of course; he had far too much pent-up energy to remain sitting for long. The way he saw it, he had all the warmth he needed from the burning rage in his chest and storming through the empty halls of the Dark Palace and destroying the occasional room was _far_ more satisfying than any food or drink could ever be.

The only problem he could see was that despite being called a palace, the rooms weren’t exactly the most furnished places in the world. Even the fire temple in Hyrule had more stuff in it. Blowing _that_ place to bits would feel even better, but if he ever set foot in there again, it’d be too soon.

He must’ve gone through almost every room in the palace, weakening the floor in countless places with explosive bursts of magic and ripping down every single one of the tapestries and banners that depicted Ganon or his symbols, tearing them to shreds and often leaving them in piles of ash, by the time something else managed to seize his attention. He was breathing heavily, eyes narrow and burning as he turned to the hall, from which he could hear the distant sound of angry squawking.

The majority of his mind was only incensed to further anger, annoyed by the return of Sheerow’s incessant chirping, but some small part of him - one that he almost didn’t notice - wondered why the bird had been quiet for so long and suddenly chose _now_ to return to its old habits.

He rolled his eyes _hard_ , throwing his head back as a frustrated sound came from the back of his throat, and reluctantly left the room to go see what the damn bird wanted. At least if he saw it, he’d be able to tell it to shut up again.

Halfway to the mirror, Shadow froze, hearing someone swearing as Sheerow screeched and audibly thrashed its wings. Someone was _there_ , and Shadow hadn’t even noticed. His shock quickly turned to suspicion, and he merged with the shadows on the walls just before two masked figures exited the mirror chamber. Their faces might have been covered, but their posture gave the impression that they were looking for something, and they didn’t intend to leave until they found it.

The masks, on the other hand, made it obvious that that something was him.

He remained in the darker shadows, making sure that it would be impossible for them to detect his presence as he followed them, hoping to find out how many others were with them. It wasn’t likely that two followers of those monster worshippers would come after him alone. They _had_ to know that he had some pretty powerful magic; he’d been taught by _Ganon himself,_ if they thought they’d be able to match him that easily, they were even dumber than Shadow had thought.

True to his suspicions, there were more of them. Countless more. They must have split into pairs to search the entire place because with every corner he turned, there were always two more masks. He was hidden, sure, but the evidence of his presence was _everywhere_. The ashes in the room that he’d just left were still smoldering, so if they didn’t know that he was hiding somewhere already, they would soon. As he turned to go back, there were nearby shouts about having found something, and Shadow knew that meant they’d start lighting more torches and banishing as many of his hiding places as possible.

He started moving faster, but there were just so _many_ of them that Shadow had to hastily escape from the safety of the shadows before they disappeared because light was approaching from _both_ directions. They may as well have shouted ‘eureka’ when he did, because they sounded like their surprised cries had a note of glee to them too, like they’d just been given a gift at his sudden appearance.

From one direction, someone called, “Well, if it isn’t the rebellious shadow of the hero.”

Shadow couldn’t help but think that the cultists must’ve found some new idiots, wherever they had gone, because the people _he_ knew didn’t talk that casually. But that could be a good thing. New people wouldn’t know what he could do, and he was just _itching_ to give them a taste of that.

Someone else taunted, “Run out of hiding places?”

Conjuring orbs of dark fire in each of his hands, Shadow bared his teeth in a dangerous grin. “Who says I need to hide?”

He threw the balls down the hallway, both in front of him and behind, and watched as they all fell over themselves when the flames made contact with the ground and exploded into a larger blaze. It was hilarious how easy it was to scare off newbies, and it would _definitely_ make them think twice about coming after him again. Of course, they were probably just the ones sent out to find him, and the racket they were making would tip off the _rest_ of the cultists to where he was, and _they_ were the ones who would know what he could do.

But what were they going to do? It wasn’t like they had Ganon behind them anymore, they couldn’t do _shit_.

The flames on the stone floor began to die down without any real fuel, but everyone who had been in the blast radius was too busy frantically trying to extinguish their clothes to stop Shadow from passing right by them. Some of them tried, but all he had to do was step to the side and out of their reach. Walking so casually through a castle’s hallways while it was full of people trying to capture him really brought back memories.

Though, he’d rather drive them out as quickly as possible. They’d just be an annoyance if they stayed, and like hell he’d let them get the mirror again. They probably wouldn’t be able to use it - _he_ was barely able to - but he’d rather not take that chance. They’d only use it to try to resurrect Ganon _again_ , and that’d bring a whole new set of problems.

Surprisingly, the path to the mirror’s chamber had few guards to try and stop him. There were a couple, but it was hardly a fight. All Shadow had to do was form a sword out of the darkness - entirely black but otherwise reminiscent of the Four Sword - and it was easy to cut them down. Shadow wasn’t the best swordsman, but fighting someone in long robes and a mask, armed with knives that had absolutely _no_ reach? There was no contest.

He decided to keep up the magic that made the sword truly tangible - no point in wasting time conjuring more fire when there was an easier option after all. The first thing he saw as he entered the room was Sheerow, still screeching the loudest and most high pitched noise he’d ever heard, flying around someone’s head and scratching at any point it could reach as the person tried to shoo it away. When Shadow caught sight of his mask, he laughed, recognizing it as a cult leader’s pathetic attempt at wearing Ganon’s face as his own. “Wow,” Shadow jeered, Sheerow’s victim suddenly looking at him even as it continued harassing him. “Nice mask. Did you make it yourself?”

_“You!”_ The cultist hissed, ignoring Shadow’s taunts. “You dare to remain in Ganon’s castle after what you’ve done?”

“Well he’s not using it.”

That only made him more furious, and for a second he was screeching almost as loudly as Sheerow. “That does not matter! This place is sacred to Ganon, you have no right to be desecrating it as you have!”

Shadow snorted. “And I should care because..?”

“He was your master! We know that he taught you everything that you know, and now you use his teachings to disrespect him!”

“Yeah, well, y’know how the saying goes, ‘the student must surpass the tea-’” Shadow didn’t get to finish his sentence, the masked man charging him like he thought that would do anything. Honestly, he’d said it himself: Ganon taught him everything he knew, and that was a _lot_. He should’ve figured that Shadow would just make himself intangible for a half-second, allow him to stumble past him, then swing around to jam the pommel of his sword into his back.

For someone who claimed to have been watching him while he was in the world of light, this guy _really_ must not have been paying attention.

As he watched the man rise to his hands and knees, Shadow opened his mouth to tell him to get lost, but couldn’t get a single word out before another screech rang out, _“Seize the shadow!”_ His voice was high-pitched enough that it made Shadow cringe, and he couldn’t even _guess_ how it was affecting Sheerow, but he didn’t hear any more squawking.

Other masked cultists flooded the room, blocking every exit like they were herding Shadow back toward the mirror. It was disturbingly similar to what they had done when Ganon had sent him back to Hyrule, but _this_ time they didn’t have anyone more powerful than he was as backup. They wouldn’t even be able to _touch_ him.

The crowd began advancing but Shadow refused to retreat, instead tightening his grip on the dark sword as he conjured another ball of fire.

For a while, Shadow was able to defend himself easily, cutting down anyone who came within reach and igniting the robes of anyone who didn’t. The only problem - though it was really more an annoyance than anything else - was the fact that they just kept _coming._ How many people could _possibly_ have joined this cult?

Still, he kept up his defense, not even bothering to demand that they leave. It was pretty obvious that they wouldn’t, and besides, a new, even _bigger_ problem arose.

The edges of his sword started dissipating.

He didn’t notice it at first - he just thought that it was his eyes playing tricks on him - but then it started fading until it was more like a long, way-too-thin club than anything else. When the realization finally set in, Shadow tried to fade again, tried to slip into whatever shadows he could find, but it was like they were _rejecting_ him.

His mind raced to figure out what the hell was going on, but he didn’t have a lot of attention to spare. Even with the cultists being dumb as a group of hinoxes, it didn’t take long for them to notice Shadow’s magic abandoning him.

He was forced to back away, frustrated and confused and reminded far too much of before, still bristling as the group swarmed around him and the mirror; all of them trying to be the one to get their hands on him first. Shadow couldn’t hold onto the magic that kept the “sword” in existence anymore, so he let it disappear and hoped - hell, he’d even _prayed_ \- that somehow he’d be able to summon it again before it was too late.

Suddenly, when there was only maybe a foot between Shadow and the one closest to him, a flash of bright light shone from behind him, startling _everyone_ and making all who had been looking directly at it flinch away, covering their eyes with pained shrieks. An urgent, familiar voice called to him, “Pass through the mirror, Shadow, quickly! They will not remain stunned for long!”

Shadow scowled despite knowing full well that escaping to Hyrule might be his best chance of getting out of this, but he didn’t _want_ to. “I can handle this myself, _princess_.”

“You would rather die at the hands of these people than be safe here in Hyrule?” That was weird, Shadow could almost swear that Zelda sounded frustrated.

“Right.” Even in this situation, with some of the cultists starting to uncover their eyes and blink the spots out of their vision, he still found the time to incredulously laugh and scornfully echo, “‘Safe.’”

It was definitely strange to hear a quiet, disembodied growl of frustration - _especially_ when he knew it was from Zelda - but more important was that weak sting of Zelda’s light magic trying to urge him through. When Sheerow suddenly made its reappearance, it landed on his shoulder and ruffled its feathers anxiously as it quietly squawked at him, probably urging him to flee too.

The choice was made for him as several people rose from a crouch and rushed him, at which Shadow could only reflexively surround himself and Sheerow with what little power he had left. Evidently, once he’d done that, Zelda was able to pull on him like he was a fish in a net.

The next thing he knew, he was in front of the princess yet again, standing with his arms raised defensively, shaking slightly with adrenaline. It was so frustratingly similar to when Ganon forced him back here, but now it was _Zelda_ who had done it - his own _kin_ . Not that it really mattered, but _still_ . He should’ve at least had a _choice._

Though there was one major difference between then and now.

Zelda looked _pissed._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so, a bunch of updates with my life. I probably will not have a lot of time to write because I have SO much stuff going on with school. I'm president of one club, vice president of another, and I'm helping one of my professors teach a bunch of Latin 101 students. I barely had time to even open my laptop last week so I'm as surprised as anyone that I managed to get this done. I'll do the best I can, but no promises about consistency.
> 
> But! I did finish an outline for the rest of the fic, we're looking at a tentative sixteen chapters depending on whether or not I decide to break up or combine parts. I'm pretty excited for it C: Anyway, if anyone wants to [hmu](http://dicaxasinus.tumblr.com) and talk about this au or anything else, I'd love to have people to talk to for a break from life lol. Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for being patient with me!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am. Exhausted but I finished a bunch of shit recently so I reward myself with pleasure writing yeehaw please enjoy & thank you for reading!

_“What_ is wrong with you?”

Shadow lowered his arms, meeting Zelda’s frustrated glare with one of his own, choosing to ignore the fact that he hadn’t seen her look like that since before he’d… since before. “What’s wrong with _me?”_

“Yes!” she cried, her voice rose both in pitch and volume. “You were going to allow yourself to be overwhelmed by those… those _people!”_ Clearly she couldn’t think of a word to describe them. It really spoke to how mad she was if he’d left her at a loss for words. “What would possess you to refuse to escape and take refuge in Hyrule?”

“Uh, try the fact that I don’t want to be here?” Had he not made that obvious enough? You’d think that _saying it outright_ would’ve tipped her off, but apparently not. “I didn’t stay before for a _reason,_ you know.”

That was enough to make Zelda’s glare soften slightly, but not much. “I understand your reasons from before-” Shadow scoffed, but Zelda wasn’t done talking. “But I _don’t_ understand why you’d choose to be at the mercy of…” A moment of hesitation. “Whomever was attacking you.”

“I wasn’t ‘at their mercy!’”

“No?”

“Yeah! I could’ve taken them, they’re just a group of idiots!”

“And I suppose that’s why you were cornered before the mirror and not retaliating.”

Shadow opened his mouth to snap back at her again, but he really couldn’t explain that. He didn’t know how. He didn’t know _why_ his magic had suddenly failed him or _why_ he suddenly couldn’t merge with the shadows anymore, but he could _tell_ that it was still gone and he couldn’t figure out _why_ . “I didn’t _ask_ for you to step in,” Shadow spat. “Actually, I’m pretty sure I said I didn’t want your help, so _I_ don’t get why you decided to anyway.”

Zelda sighed in exasperation, explaining, “Contrary to what you may think, I do not want my kin to die when I can do something to protect them. I would do the same for L- for Green.” Ha. She must still not be entirely used to there being four of them since they drew the four sword.

But the _kinstones_ thing. Shadow rolled his eyes _hard_ , making it absolutely clear what he thought of that reasoning. “Oh, _please_. You’ve gotta have a better reason than _that.”_ Seeing Zelda’s expression change to one that was somehow _more_ frustrated, Shadow scowled, but at least she wasn’t looking down on him or anything. He crossed his arms, meeting her glare and refusing to back down. “Kinstones don’t mean _anything_. They’re just a bunch of stupid rocks.” A sudden reminder that Sheerow was still around came in the form of another sharp peck, at which Shadow hissed and swatted at it as it flew out of his reach, squawking furiously.

He turned his ire to the bird, rubbing his neck where it had pecked him and muttering under his breath. Zelda got his attention again when she shook her head and skeptically said, “You don’t believe that.” At his sharp look, she insisted, “I saw your expression after I matched our kinstones. You do _not_ think that they are meaningless.”

He huffed, shooing at Sheerow one more time before ignoring it again. “Pretty sure we went over this last time, princess. That just showed me I had better options.”

“No, it didn’t. I saw how shocked you were, like you couldn’t believe that you had found one of your partners.” Shadow tensed, knowing full well that she was _right,_ but not liking that _she_ knew that too. “Then you did far more to help us than you needed to, which I was told you did in order to save me. They _do_ mean something to you.”

Shadow looked away in a sudden, jerking motion, clenching his fists. “They _don’t_. Even if they did, I still didn’t ask you to drag me back here.”

“Well, if they don’t mean anything to you, then accept that they mean something to _me_ .” Shadow rolled his eyes again, at which Zelda pursed her lips with disapproval, but continued, “I wanted to help you, and I’m sure you didn’t _really_ want to die at the hands of that ‘group of idiots.’”

He made a frustrated sound, but he admitted, “Fine. Maybe I didn’t want that. But I don’t want to be stuck _here_ either.”

Zelda sighed. “I will admit, I made a mistake before in approaching my relationship with you in a similar manner to how I approach it with Green.”

Shadow barked a bitter laugh in surprise. “You think? Don’t know if you noticed, but I’m _not Link._ ”

“As I said, it was a mistake,” Zelda defended sharply. “But I do not intend to make it again. I would like to build a relationship with you, but I cannot do that if you do not let me.” Shadow looked skeptical, but Zelda was evidently determined to ignore that. “Would you _please_ allow me to try?”

He didn’t answer for a few moments, fighting the knee-jerk reaction to shut that down entirely and tell her that he didn’t want any part of it. He didn’t like it, she’d been right about almost everything. He didn’t want to be in Hyrule, but he didn’t want to go back to the Dark World and be immediately captured by Ganon’s followers either. Of course, that probably wasn’t even an option anymore - Zelda didn’t seem likely to send him back and Shadow wasn’t even sure he could muster enough magic to do that _anyway_ . He couldn’t leave - at least for the time being - and Zelda probably _knew_ that.

“Fine,” Shadow relented, still not happy about it in the slightest. “May as well have somebody to talk to if I’m gonna be stuck here.”

“So you’re staying?” That pleasantly surprised tone that entered her voice _had_ to be fake.

“Apparently. Can’t really go back with those masked freaks over there.” He said bitterly, intentionally leaving out the part about how he didn’t think he had the power to pass back through again. He’d figure out what was happening on his own.

“In that case,” Zelda started, a lot of her anger giving way to eagerness - like she’d just been given something that she’d been waiting a long time for. “Shall we find a room where you can stay?”

“No thanks.”

“What?”

“No. Thanks,” Shadow repeated, pausing between each word to make sure she got what he was saying. “I’m fine here.”

“But-”

“Look, I might have to be here, but I’m not leaving the mirror.”

She looked confused and maybe a little dismayed, but after a moment she said, “Alright, I suppose. If that is what you want.” After another moment of hesitation, she asked, “I will go make other arrangements then.”

Shadow shrugged, turning away as he said, “Whatever. Do what you want.” He didn’t really care if there wasn’t much else in the room besides the mirror - that was pretty much what the entire Dark Palace was like - but then Zelda kept looking at him like she was trying to solve some kind of puzzle.

He’d been about to demand what she was staring at, but then she said, “I will return soon.” She turned and left, leaving Shadow alone.

Or rather, mostly alone. Sheerow flew back to perch on his shoulder, and Shadow shot a glare at it, asking, “Are you going to attack me again?” It just chirped once, making Shadow shake his head in exasperation.

Looking back at the mirror, Shadow approached it again. The glowing lines of light magic that snaked across the glass still obscured parts of the image on the other side, but it was still possible to see the big picture. The masked cultists must’ve dispersed once Shadow had gone through the mirror, because even _they_ had to know that they couldn’t get to him if he was in Hyrule. There were still some there - probably to make sure that he didn’t come back - and the sight of them there made him want to smash the mirror into a thousand pieces _again,_ no matter what that meant for him.

He touched the glass, just _barely_ keeping himself from pushing it over. A sharp sting burned his fingers where they touched the light, even while the original shards were cool and familiar. It almost felt like the coolness was being drawn into his hand, and when Shadow pulled his hand back, the feeling lingered longer than he expected. He narrowed his eyes at it suspiciously, but was quickly struck by an idea. He experimentally tried to summon something, _anything,_ and small purple flames danced on his fingertips for a few seconds before they suddenly disappeared again. He hadn’t _stopped_ trying to use his magic, they just _went out_.

He tried it again - several times. Every time he touched the mirror, it was like a _tiny_ fraction of magic returned, but it was gone again within seconds of using it. He left one of his hands on the mirror, ignoring the sting of light magic running under his palm, and _boiled_ with frustration.

He really shouldn’t be surprised. It’d only figure that the light magic that held the mirror together would also hold _back_ the dark magic from people who tried to draw power from it. _That_ was why he’d lost to the followers of Ganon. It didn’t matter if the mirror’s reconstruction had probably been what gave him the ability to hold his ground for as long as he had, it was the _light_ that had stopped him from being able to actually _win_.

Taking his hand off of the mirror again, this time refraining from using up the magic he’d just gotten back, Shadow clenched it into a fist and tried to come to terms with the fact that he didn’t have an unlimited source of magic anymore. If he didn’t want people to know that, he’d just have to be careful about how he used it. He could do that.

He was still thinking about how exactly he could gauge how much magic he had left when Zelda returned, and his expression hardened when he saw Green following behind her. It wasn’t surprising that Zelda brought him with her, but that didn’t make Shadow any more amicable to him.

He was willing to give Zelda a chance, _not_ because they were kin, he told himself, but because she was stubborn enough to insist that she wanted him there and because she actually _argued_ with him on that point. He might not want to be here, but clearly _she_ did if she put that much effort into convincing him. But he would _not_ be trying to get all buddy-buddy with anyone else.

He was _not_ looking forward to his unexpected, un _wanted_ , stay in Hyrule Castle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm super hoping that now that I've gotten SORTA into a rhythm and have finished one of the Big Things that I needed to get done by this week is I'll have more time to write on weekends, but we'll see. Thanks for reading!!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy oh boy, I'm back on my bullshit! Round 9 of angry boy vs. the world, let's go!

All things considered, the first few days he was back in Hyrule weren’t _too_ intolerable. He’d have thought that Zelda would have some sort of royal responsibilities that would occupy almost _all_ of her time, but she somehow found the time to come down to the mirror chamber so Shadow wouldn’t have to deal with random servants who would be scared of some attack that he _wasn’t_ planning. Sure, he could understand why they’d worry about that, but having to see that kind of suspicion on their faces would get old _real_ quick.

It was weird though, how quickly he was able to get used to Zelda being around. He’d had to make the conscious effort to stop intentionally trying to push her away - it really _would’ve_ been intolerably boring if he didn’t have her to talk to - but it was still surprising. Sheerow had been good enough when he’d been alone, where there was nobody to see him talking to a damn bird, but here? He wasn’t about to let anyone see that. It didn’t seem to matter to Zelda, though. Sheerow liked her, perching on her hand whenever she offered, and she thought that it was funny whenever Sheerow was being particularly irritating.

In general, she just made being there easier. After that disastrous first time she’d brought Green to the mirror chamber, where Shadow had immediately redoubled his efforts to drive _both_ of them away even after telling Zelda that he wouldn’t, she’d had the good sense to come by herself. That probably made _everyone_ else in the kingdom nervous, but Shadow just appreciated it - even if he didn’t exactly voice it. She could tell, he was sure.

There wasn’t a whole lot for them to talk about - not comfortably anyway. He wasn’t about to have another conversation like the one where Zelda had interrogated him about why he’d helped them. Mostly it was just getting used to each other's company. She would talk about little things that happened during her day - which at any other time he’d think were boring, but given that all _he_ had to talk about was whatever dumb thing Sheerow had done that day, he didn’t have a whole lot of room to judge.

The biggest problem with being there was how _boring_ it was. He absolutely couldn’t _stand_ being confined in this one room, even though he knew - and Zelda made _sure_ he knew - that he was doing it to himself. She kept insisting that he _should_ leave the mirror chamber, but Shadow would always point out that all her reasons were pointless and stupid.

It would make people less suspicious if they saw him doing normal things? Yeah, right. They’d just think that he was getting more bold about whatever he nefarious things he wasn’t doing.

He couldn’t just talk to her for the rest of his life? Maybe not, but that sure wouldn’t stop him from trying.

Being in the sun would be good for him? He’d actually laughed outright at that one.

The only reason that he could admit to was the idea that he was getting restless after being in only _one room_ for almost a _week_ . Even when he’d been alone in the Dark Palace, he’d at least been able to wander and get rid of most of his pent up frustration. Now all he had was one room to pace around in. One room with only the mirror, a bedroll, and a small pile of blankets that Zelda had given him - which admittedly was more comfortable than he’d been before, but _still_. It was just _one room._

This self-imposed confinement was going to drive him insane.

Eventually he just couldn’t take it anymore. It had probably been somewhere around a week and a half before Shadow had to finally face the outside, but he’d be damned if he didn’t do it on his own terms. Of course, his own terms meant that he’d be doing it in the dead of night, without telling anyone, and - most importantly - _alone_. He absolutely did not need or want Zelda holding his hand or something. Yeah, she’d figured out that he didn’t exactly respond well to that sort of thing, but he got the feeling she’d try it anyway.

So he waited. He waited until Zelda came and left, wishing him a good night. He waited another couple hours that felt like an eternity, drumming his fingers on his knee as he tried to keep himself together _just_ long enough to make sure that people would actually be asleep. He waited until finally - _finally_ \- he felt fairly confident that everything in the castle would be quiet and all he’d have to do was avoid the notice of any night patrols that might be roaming the halls. And even _that_ wouldn’t be hard. He might have a limited amount of magic now, but he’d figured out that it came back with time, even if he wasn’t actually touching the mirror. So as long as he didn’t use it constantly, he’d be able to hide if he needed to.

Or at least he was pretty sure that was how things worked now.

As it happened, Shadow didn’t even really need to worry about wasting his magic like that. Whenever he heard a guard coming, all he had to do was fade for a few seconds and he was fine. Although, he’d have to tell Zelda that her guards should probably be better prepared for magical opponents in the future. Honestly, one would think they’d have learned after his _own_ attack on Hyrule Castle, but at least for now it was still working in his favor.

He didn’t really have a specific destination in mind, but when he opened a door - which thankfully opened fairly quietly - to find what looked like an open courtyard, it wasn’t an unwelcome sight. There were racks with various weapons on them, targets, and figures that startled Shadow for a second before he realized that they were just training dummies. It was absolutely deserted, but there were still signs of people being there earlier, like a few swords and spears leaning on the wall as if the last people to use them were too lazy to put them away properly and a couple others laying on the ground like the wind had made them clatter to the ground.

Shadow stepped outside into the cool night air, carefully closing the door behind him. He breathed a sigh of relief when it didn’t make a sound. Nobody had seen him, nobody had heard him, nobody knew he was there. Perfect.

A roof covered the perimeter of the training yard, but the center was open to the sky, moonlight illuminating the area. As Shadow took a few steps forward, it all came into view: the crescent moon, the stars - all of the things that one could never see beyond the miasma that covered Lorule.

All of the things he hadn’t seen since before Vio had betrayed him.

He tore his eyes away from it, that angry stab of _hurt_ running through him like a sword to the chest, and started to look around for anything that might let him get rid of that awful, built up, downright _suffocating_ energy. _Without_ doing something like blow up an entire wing of Hyrule Castle. Again. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t let himself lose control to _that_ extent.

He wound up taking one of the swords that had fallen on the ground, ignoring the fact that the balance was all wrong. It wasn’t like he was _actually_ going to be fighting someone, so it didn’t really matter. All he was doing was taking out his fury on glorified sticks with armor. They weren’t even that sturdy. Three of them had snapped in half within just a few hits.

“You know we need a couple of those for training new guards, right?”

Shadow whirled around with a start, instantly on edge because _someone_ had just appeared in the yard just as quietly as he had. But that alarm quickly faded as he recognized Green, who was looking at Shadow curiously. _Why_ he was there in the first place was a mystery because Shadow couldn’t imagine that _Green_ \- one of the ‘beloved heroes’ of Hyrule - would have the same reasons that he did. But he wasn’t about to ask about that. Why should he care why Green was awake in the middle of the night? “I’m sure y’all have more somewhere,” Shadow answered, not particularly caring about whether or not they were down only _three_ wooden figures. There was no _way_ they had that little equipment, and even if they did, there was an easy solution. “Besides, these things are just logs, I’m sure you can make more.”

Green sighed, shaking his head in exasperation. “That’s not the point. Those aren’t _supposed_ to break, they’re just for techni-”

Shadow rolled his eyes and cut him off. “I’m pretty sure you’re not here to lecture me on the proper use of _training dummies_. What do you _really_ want?”

Green stopped, hesitating for a couple seconds, which only made Shadow positive that he wasn’t going to like the answer. “I heard noises coming from out here, so I came to check it out and found you. I figured I’d ask what’s going on and why you’re training alone in the middle of the night.”

Shadow wanted to laugh. Even if he _did_ want to train with other people, did Green _actually_ think that anyone in the castle - no, anyone in _Hyrule_ \- would want to get near him if he had any sort of weapon in his hands? They would already mistrust him enough with his mere presence, but that’d be three steps too far. “You caught me. I’m preparing to take down Hyrule Castle from the inside,” Shadow said sarcastically, raising his hands like he was surrendering and letting the sword fall out of his hands, the sound of metal on stone echoing off the walls. “There goes my carefully plotted scheme.”

There wasn’t even a trace of amusement on Green’s face, just what Shadow could only interpret as some kind of concern. Great. That was _just_ what he needed. “Shadow, come on. You wouldn’t be doing this if there wasn’t something wrong.” Like _he’d_ know anything about why Shadow would do _anything?_ “Why are you out here?”

“Who says I need a reason?” Shadow asked, starting to pace in a slow circle around Green, unable - no, un _willing_ \- to remain standing in one place. He’d had enough of that in that damned mirror chamber. “Maybe I just prefer being awake at night. After all, I _am_ just a creature from the shadows.” His tone was unapologetically bitter and sharp, and the expression that came onto Green’s face showed _exactly_ the reaction he knew it would.

“What? No! You’re one of-”

“Oh, spare me that ‘you’re one of us’ garbage,” he snapped, stopping and shooting Green a piercing glare. “Nobody _actually_ believes that.”

“Yes, we do!” Green insisted, and Shadow could almost believe that he was trying to sound sincere. It was hilarious how hard he was trying. “Me, Zelda, and everybody else know what you did for us-” and _to_ them, “and we _told_ you before that you are!”

“Yeah, when y’all thought I was _dying_.”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with it.” _There_ was the frustration. Shadow knew they’d get there eventually. “You saved all of us and made it even _possible_ for us to defeat Vaati. That makes you a hero.” When Shadow rolled his eyes, Green insisted again, “We’re all here to accept you, _you’re_ the one who keeps rejecting us!”

He _really_ sounded like Zelda now. She was always saying that too, but at least from _her_ it was different. _She_ was kin, and Green definitely _wasn’t_.

Not that it _mattered,_ of course.

“Zelda’s worried about you, you know,” Green continued, somehow not getting the idea that Shadow wasn’t really listening. “She said you haven’t even left that room since you came back. Is this _actually_ the first time you’ve been outside?”

Shadow bristled. “What do you care?”

“Other than that I don’t want you to think that you have to be alone all the time?” Shadow’s skepticism had to be as obvious as he intended, because Green insisted again, “Zelda wants you to be happy, and we _all_ want you to know you’re safe and welcome here. We’re both kin with Zelda, you know that’s what she wants.”

Shadow scowled at the mention of their shared connection with Zelda, and _especially_ at the idea that it was a reason why he should take Green’s words at face value. “Kinstones don’t mean anything,” Shadow hissed, repeating what he’d told Zelda once before. He half expected Sheerow to appear out of nowhere and vehemently object to that, but the bird must still be snoring away next to the mirror. That was fine with him, the expression on Green’s face - which made it look like Shadow had just slapped him or something - probably wouldn’t look like that for long if Sheerow started screeching and flying into _his_ face. “Just because we’ve both got kinstones that match with Zelda’s doesn’t mean I have any connection like that with _you_ .” He was just the hero’s shadow. That was _nothing_ like what kinstones were supposed to represent.

There were a couple seconds of stunned silence from Green, and Shadow considered leaving without waiting for a response. But he’d just barely started moving when Green demanded, “Why are you being like this? We’re just trying to help you!”

‘Help him.’ Shadow could believe that _Zelda_ wanted to help him, but that didn’t change the fact that he never _asked_ for her to. But at least _she_ seemed to want him there for her own reasons, even if one of them was that they were kin. Apparently _Green_ just wanted him there because Zelda did. That wasn’t a real reason. That was just _tolerance_ . “I didn’t _ask_ for your help.”

At the very least, Green was smart enough to realize that that hadn’t been the right thing to say. He looked like he was struggling to find a response to that, but this time Shadow didn’t bother waiting to hear what that might be. He stepped back under the roof, where the stone overhead blocked the moonlight, and let himself fade into the darkness. Green lurched forward, reaching out and saying, “Wait!” But he couldn’t stop him from leaving once Shadow was one with the rest of the shadows.

Shadow could hear Green’s footsteps echoing in the halls as he made his way back to the mirror chamber. He’d gotten what he wanted - even if it _did_ leave him with more frustration. At the very least it had been _some_ change. At the very least the constant boredom had stopped, even just temporarily.

He was just a few turns away from ‘his’ room when his magic started failing him again. Green had presumably given up his pursuit of Shadow a while ago, since he hadn’t heard anything for a minute or so, but Shadow still didn’t want to leave. Being like that was _comfortable_ and _safe_ , and he knew that nothing could touch him in the shadows. But the longer that he tried to stay there now, the harder it was, and he found himself forced out, leaving him disoriented and lean against the wall so he didn’t lose his balance.

He gritted his teeth, trying to contain his steadily growing anger so he didn’t end up shouting with frustration and letting _everyone_ know that he suddenly couldn’t do the _one_ thing he’d thought that he would always be able to do. The _one thing_ he’d always had on his side - hell, his _namesake_ \- was ready to reject him at a moment’s notice.

After a moment, Shadow pushed away from the wall, storming the rest of the way to the room. He ground his teeth together even harder when he heard Sheerow’s screeching snores, and even _more_ when he saw that it had made a nest out of most of the blankets that Zelda had given them. He saw something poking out from under its wings, something blue and something green.

Shadow _really_ wanted to scream. How had it even _gotten_ his kinstones to sit on like that anyway?

He impatiently snatched one of the blankets from the ‘nest,’ startling Sheerow awake, but Shadow didn’t care. He was sick and tired of _everything_ \- how he was stuck in this room, how he was stuck in _Hyrule_ , how he couldn’t even escape into the _shadows_ anymore. He _hated_ it. And he didn’t doubt that Green would tell Zelda _all about_ their little conversation, and then _she’d_ come talk to him about it.

Shadow closed his eyes, figuring that he may as well _try_ to sleep. He doubted he’d be able to easily, but at least he’d delay that conversation with Zelda if he wasn’t awake.

He could feel Sheerow settling down next to his head, but didn’t even bother shooing it away.

He was just so _tired_ of it all.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update! If you didn't look at the chapter before this one, go back to it now!

Shadow didn’t have the slightest idea how long he’d been asleep, but he woke up with a raging headache and an absolutely disgusting taste in his mouth. There was also Sheerow’s chirping that felt like spikes to the brain even though it was probably across the room and not actually that loud. He sat up with a loud groan, saying, “Would you _shut up?”_

“That’s no way to talk to your friend.”

His eyes shot open - an action that he _immediately_ regretted when his eyes burned like he was in broad daylight instead of the dimness of a room without windows. He had to squint just to see without feeling like he was being stabbed in the eyes as well as everywhere else in his head. But seeing who exactly was sitting across the room with Sheerow on her shoulder, Shadow _knew_ what was coming next. He just hadn’t thought that it would be happening the second he woke up. “How long have you been sitting there?”

“Good afternoon to you as well,” Zelda answered, somehow managing to sound simultaneously calm and irritated. Huh. Afternoon. So that’s what time it was. “I hope you rested well after being awake at all hours.” And _there_ was the mildly accusing tone. If she was trying to scold him, it wouldn’t work. Shadow might be just as upset that Green showed up, but he wasn’t about to regret doing _something_ about his neverending boredom.

“I did, thanks for the concern,” Shadow said like he didn’t have one of the worst headaches of his life. He might be saying that just because it was the one that was happening _now,_ but still.

Zelda sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Shadow,” she started, looking up at him in what could almost be described as exhaustion. “ _What_ were you doing last night?”

“Nothing _important._ I was just bored.” There was no point in saying anything other than the truth to Zelda, not even because she could usually see right through him. It wasn’t like the idea of being bored when he’d been confined like he had was a stretch, and it wasn’t like it was some big secret either. “I wanted something to do.”

“In the middle of the night? I’ve told you a thousand times that you are free to go around the castle.”

“ _You_ say I’m free to do that. I doubt your guards would think that.”

“If anyone has given you trouble, I assure you that I will have it handled-”

“I don’t need them to do that, I already know what they’re probably thinking. Besides, if anybody bothered me, I’d handle it _myself_ , thanks.” For half a second, he hesitated, debating with himself whether he should finish his thought. It didn’t take him long to decide. “The only one bothering me was Green, and I handled _that_ just fine.”

Zelda looked unimpressed. “I’ve heard differently.”

“Yeah, because you’ve only heard _his_ side.”

“And what is yours, then?”

Shadow could _swear_ that he had an answer ready, but the second she asked that, he blanked. “I just-” he exhaled heavily. “He just showed up and started trying to lecture me about how _I’m_ being unreasonable for not wanting to be around people that are just going to look at me like I’m seconds away from destroying Hyrule again.”

She hummed for a moment, then asked, “If that is how you think people are thinking of you, how did you manage to pass all the way from here to the training grounds without being stopped? If the guards are already suspicious of you as you say, why did they not stop you when you were going about at night? One would think that would raise even more alarm.”

“Your guards don’t know the first thing about dealing with magic. I passed them and they didn’t even notice I was there.” He shrugged carelessly. “You’d think they’d have figured out what to do about that since last time, but apparently not.”

“I see,” Zelda murmured thoughtfully, but then waved her hand as if dismissing the thought. “Please. Continue.”

Shadow hesitated, admittedly a little curious about what that was about, but he figured that she wouldn’t answer his question when she was still waiting for him to tell her _why_ he’d argued with Green. Which he wasn’t looking forward to. At all. “There’s not much to else to say. I went there, broke some stuff, Green spouted some garbage at me, then I left. That’s it.”

“And what ‘garbage’ did he say to you?”

The worst part about having to say this was the fact that Zelda would _know_ if he was lying, Green had probably already told her. She _knew_ what Shadow had objected to, and she was just waiting for him to admit it so she could tell him that _he_ was the one who was wrong.

And _maybe_ a part of him wanted him to be, but that was entirely overpowered by the rest of him that said that he _wasn’t_ . He wasn’t and never _would be_ one of them.

Zelda hummed impatiently, trying to prompt him to answer more quickly. Crossing his arms, Shadow answered, “He tried to tell me that y’all are just trying to ‘help’ me and tried to convince me of that by saying that I should trust him because we both matched kinstones with you.” Zelda looked like she was about to say something, but Shadow continued, “I _don’t_ think that means anything. I don’t _need_ or _want_ his help. Especially if _that’s_ his reason.”

He didn’t look at her, but he could feel Zelda looking at him and he could _feel_ her concern, and he wanted _none_ of it. “Shadow…”

“Save it,” Shadow snapped, absolutely not in the mood to deal with that. “I told you what you wanted to know, are we done here?”

Zelda looked startled, but she must have become accustomed to his outbursts because she calmly said, “No. I have one more thing to ask you.”

Tersely, he asked, “What?”

“Since you mentioned that my guards are ill-equipped to combat magical opponents, I would like to ask you to help them with learning to do so.”

_“What?”_

He could swear that she was smirking because she had _clearly_ been planning this since he’d said that. He _really_ regretted that now. “Who better to teach them to deal with magic than you?” _Literally anyone else._ “It would be the perfect solution to all of our problems. Those whom you fear mistrust you will find that you have no malicious intent, they will become more able in defending Hyrule against any opponent, and _you_ will no longer have to sneak around at night in order to alleviate your boredom.”

“That is _not_ a perfect solution, it’s the worst idea _ever_. There’s no way anyone will trust me if I’m throwing around magic.”

“And how would you suggest that we go about this?”

“I don’t know, but not like _that!”_

There was a pause, but then Zelda conceded, “Alright. How would you feel about a compromise.” Shadow didn’t like where this was going. “Instead of training an entire group of soldiers, why not begin with Green and the rest of them?”

“No.” Shadow’s response was immediate, shutting down the idea without giving it a moment of thought.

“Why not?”

‘Because I don’t want to’ was his first thought, but voicing that would only make him sound like a child and Zelda would undoubtedly call him on that. He couldn’t think of an answer that wasn’t absolutely pathetic quick enough, so Zelda just continued, “I may not be able to speak for others in Hyrule, but I can at the very least assure you that Green, Blue, Vio, and Red will not distrust you as others might. They witnessed your sacrifice. They know that you will not do any harm.”

Shadow scowled at the sheer _sentimentality_ of that statement, but it was obvious that this was something that she was going to latch onto and not let go until Shadow agreed. She’d already tried doing it with just trying to convince him to leave the damn room, and _this_ actually gave her a reason to make him do it. He groaned reluctantly. “Fine. You win. I’ll do it.”

“Excellent!” Her voice brightened significantly, rose in volume too which only reminded Shadow that his headache was still there, even if it had faded to a more dull pain than the pulsing it had been before. “I will inform Green of this immediately. Shall we say that you will begin tomorrow? There is not much daylight left for anything to truly be accomplished today.”

“Sure, whatever.” The idea of going outside during the day just made the whole situation more unpleasant. Not only would he have to face _all four_ of them at once, he’d probably have to pass who _knows_ how many people to get wherever they were going to do this, _and_ deal with the sun blazing right in his face.

As Zelda left, all Shadow could think about was how _terrible_ an idea this was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's where we get on a new track! There's still a ways to go, but we're gonna get to a less angry boy in the chapters to come, so expect that!
> 
> Also, in case you haven't seen it already, I bought a commission of [an angry boy and his bird](https://78.media.tumblr.com/9096fdbb2e95e6d7e6401355e033602f/tumblr_p4cofqODPt1rmbvauo1_r1_540.jpg) and I've been staring at it for the past week.
> 
> I hope you liked these two chapters and thank you for reading!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been like seven years since I last updated, but here we go once again! I apologize for the long delay but I had so many papers and things due in the past month that I haven't had time to write much for fun. I'm not exactly out of the woods yet in that sense, but the semester ends in like a month, so hopefully I'll get back into the swing of writing more often then!
> 
> Hope y'all have a good time reading this chapter!

Shadow had always hated being in Hyrule during the day. It had been tolerable before, when the mirror had been whole and he could protect himself with as much magic as he wanted. But that was just one more item on the list of things he couldn’t do anymore. He could still use  _ some _ , sure, but it wasn’t  _ enough _ . It was enough to keep the light from stinging like Zelda’s magic had, but not enough to stop it from making his skin crawl.

But yet, there he was, standing outside with four people that he had absolutely no desire to be around. At least there was a tree that gave a  _ little  _ shade so he didn’t have to stand in direct sunlight.

May as well get this over with.

“So,” Shadow started, sounding about as enthusiastic as someone about to stare at a wall for three hours. “I’m supposed to show y’all how to counter magic ‘cause y’all don’t know the first thing about it, so listen up-”

“Hey, wait a second!” Red interrupted. “We do know some things! I figured out how to use the fire rod pretty quickly, and Vio’s the one who figured out how to fix the mirror!”

The scowl that crossed Shadow’s face could easily be interpreted as coming from being interrupted, and  _ yeah _ that was part of it, but being contradicted didn’t help. Shadow had given Red the fire rod himself and pretty much let it do the teaching, so  _ that _ was probably true. And in Vio’s case, of  _ course _ he’d know a thing or two. Because what  _ didn’t  _ he know a thing or two about?

He needed to stop thinking about that. There wasn’t time to think too hard on it anyway- not with all these jokers around.

“Yeah? And how many times do you think you can use it in a row?”

“Um. I don’t know? I never really thought about that.”

“Exactly,” Shadow said, feeling a little victorious about something that didn’t actually matter. “You might’ve figured out how to work that thing and you,” Shadow finally looked at Vio, barely trying to keep his irritated and impatient expression from turning into an outright glare, “might’ve read a book or two, but y’all don’t know how to tell when someone’s  _ actually _ about to use it.” He looked back to Green and Blue. “And you two don’t know a  _ thing _ . _ ” _

“Pretty sure we didn’t  _ need _ to since you and Vaati used magic and we  _ still _ beat both of you.”

Shadow didn’t bother trying to hide his anger at being reminded of that this time, glaring daggers at Blue. “And how long did it take y’all to do that? A couple weeks of figuring out how to quit fighting all the time?”

Any other time, Shadow probably would’ve laughed at the way Blue bristled at the reminder that the four of them hadn’t always been the  _ great team _ they claimed to be now. “At least once we did it only took us a couple seconds to do it.”

“You wanna try it again?”

There was no verbal response, but the half-step forward and the expression on Blue’s face was all the answer he needed. Shadow wasn’t about to back down, matching the motion without a moment’s hesitation.

“Whoa, okay, hang on!” Green said, inserting himself between the two of them and spreading his arms like that would keep them from getting any closer to one another. “Nobody’s fighting anyone right now!” He looked at each of them pointedly, almost like he was trying to warn them of some consequence that would happen if they  _ did  _ try to fight each other.

Whatever. It wouldn’t even be worth it.

At the very least, Blue backed down at the same time that Shadow did, muttering something under his breath that Shadow couldn’t catch. He almost demanded that Blue repeat himself, but Green quickly brought the subject back to what it was  _ supposed  _ to be before he could. “Okay, we don’t know how to tell when people are using magic. How do we do that?”

Shadow’s anger was slowly winding down from outrage, but at that point it could be seen as just impatience. “It’s not hard if y’all would let me  _ finish _ . _ ” _ No interruptions this time. Finally.  _ “Anyway _ , there’s three kinds of magic y’all have to worry about: fire, ice, and lightning.” And that wasn’t a lie. The last two they didn’t have to worry about because Zelda was pretty much the only one  _ capable _ of using light magic and if anybody was using shadow magic against the castle, Shadow would be able to take care of it himself. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he didn’t want to tell them  _ more _ about his own magic. “Lightning’s pretty easy to notice ‘cause you’ll be able to smell it.”

“Smell?”

“Yeah,  _ smell _ . Y’all know how it smells different during a thunderstorm and there’s regular lightning everywhere?” They still looked confused, but at the very least Red nodded, so Shadow continued, “Magic lightning’s the same. You’ll either feel it in the air or you’ll smell it.”

“Could you give us an example?” Vio asked, finally speaking up himself.

“Does it look like I have a lightning rod on me?” Shadow asked impatiently. “I’m not some wizzrobe, I don’t do lightning magic. The only thing I’d be able to give you an example of is fire magic and that’s because of that,” he said, pointing at Red’s fire rod.

“So it’s a good thing I brought it then!”

“Yeah, sure,” Shadow said dismissively, even though he knew that it really  _ had _ been a good thing he’d thought ahead like that. He went on as if there had been no interruption. “Fire and ice are pretty similar, but y’all might not notice them if you’re not paying attention. When somebody’s about to use ice magic, it’s gonna feel a little warmer for a second. When somebody’s about to use fire magic, it’s gonna feel colder.”

“Shouldn’t it be the other way around?”

_ “No, _ ‘cause somebody’s taking either the heat or the cold from an area and getting it in one spot before it explodes out in a blast of fire or a blast of ice. Make sense when you look at it like that?”

“I guess?”

Shadow sighed impatiently. “Okay. Fine. Red, give the fire rod here, I’ll show you what I mean.”

“Wait a second, why can’t he do it?” Blue interjected.

“Because he’s barely got a grasp on it,” Shadow shot back, not exactly pleased with being questioned again. “I’ve seen him use it before, and last I checked, it was some of the sloppiest casting I’ve ever seen.” It didn’t matter if that had been the point of giving it to him at all. Red had figured it out enough to not burn down any more villages, it was fine now. “I’m the one who found it and actually knows how to keep it from burning down this entire field.”

Blue still looked mistrustful, and  _ again _ Shadow  _ understood _ why he’d look like that, but  _ damn. _ This was exactly why they weren’t doing this in the castle itself. Besides, hadn’t he made it obvious enough that he wasn’t  _ actually  _ going to do anything?

At least Red didn’t take that long to decide to hand him the rod. It wasn’t the most familiar-feeling object to hold, but he remembered finding it back in the Dark World, and  _ there _ it hadn’t been  _ too _ dangerous to experiment with it. Holding it out, Shadow said, “Pay attention,” and let the smallest fraction of magic flow into the rod, chilling the air only the slightest bit before the orb at the top of the rod ignited like a torch. Shadow didn’t plan on letting it get any bigger than that, considering that would only take more magic than he was willing to expend.

He extinguished the fire after a couple seconds, looking around at their expressions of varying degrees of confusion. “What  _ now?” _

“Uh,” Green started, his uncertainty obvious on his face and only making Shadow  _ more _ irritated with the admittedly short pause that followed. “Couldn’t that have just been the wind?”

This was exactly why no one should ever ask Shadow to teach anyone anything. It was stupid questions like this.

“I  _ said _ it was hard to notice if you’re not paying attention. That’s what it feels like when fire magic is about to happen. The bigger the flame, the colder it’s gonna feel, so if you don’t notice if somebody’s about to send a huge blast of fire at you, that’s on you. Pretty sure you’ll know it’s not ‘just the wind.’”

At the very least, that got  _ that _ question out of the way without inviting more. The rest of his little spiel basically consisted of telling them what the difference between somebody who used a rod for magic and somebody who cast manually was - which was honestly just speed - and Shadow had hoped that that would be the end of it. He’d hoped that he’d be done, Zelda would be satisfied, and  _ those _ four could handle teaching the rest of the knights what he’d just told them. But no, just as he was handing the fire rod back to him, Red asked, “Where’d you find this?”

Shadow couldn’t help but be confused by that question. “What?”

“You said you found it right? I was wondering where it was, like was it just lying around someplace?”

“I must admit, I’m curious about that as well,” Vio chimed in, and when Shadow glanced back at him, it was  _ frustrating  _ because he couldn’t tell if that curiosity was genuine or if he was just trying to get information out of him again. Yeah, he probably didn’t have any  _ reason _ to do that, but he still couldn’t know for sure.

But then, looking at the rest of them, they  _ all _ looked like they were waiting for an answer, and he was pretty sure Red at the very least wouldn’t be able to convincingly pretend to be interested. Maybe  _ this _ wasn’t part of some plan Zelda came up with to try to make him open up or something. Maybe.

Then Vio continued, “I can’t imagine that something like the fire rod would be very common in Hyrule.”

“Probably not, ‘cause it’s not from Hyrule,” Shadow answered, deciding that where some stupid rod that  _ he’d _ given them had come from wasn’t any kind of sensitive information. He’d give them this, but the second he got the feeling that they were just faking it because Zelda told them to-

“It’s from the Dark World?” Red asked, making Shadow question whether maybe Red could be the  _ best _ at pretending to be interested instead of the worst. Still, he nodded, and Red continued, “Does that mean it’s any different from a rod you’d find here?”

Shadow shrugged, “Probably means it’s better. Y’all don’t use magic here that much, I doubt anything made here would be that great.” Except things like the Four Sword, but that  _ barely _ counted. Besides, that wasn’t really something that could be ‘made’ like a rod could.

“So magic is more common in the Dark World than it is here?”

Shadow had to have another internal debate with himself about whether he should answer Vio’s question, but honestly, all of this barely mattered. It didn’t  _ matter _ if he talked about the Dark World.

“Yeah,” Shadow finally said. “Pretty much everyone I’ve ever met there can do at least  _ some _ .”

“And some can do more than others,” Green commented, almost jokingly, if Shadow was interpreting his tone right.

Shadow just grinned smugly. “Exactly.”

He’d never openly admit it to Zelda, but  _ maybe _ it wasn’t too intolerable to talk about something like that - something that didn’t matter to share. Maybe.

And he’d barely admit to himself that  _ maybe _ he wasn’t completely unwanted there. He almost didn’t want to entertain the thought.

But he hadn’t missed something that had been said before. Vio was the one who had figured out how to fix the mirror.

And no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t get that thought out of his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't Four Swords related, but I'm gonna self-promote another thing I wrote recently (which I maybe shouldn't have because it's part of what delayed this chapter lol), so if anyone's into A Link Between Worlds, I wrote a Breath of the Wild AU with Hilda and Ravio [here.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14074173) Give it a look if you're interested C:


	12. Hiatus Announcement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all, thanks for being so patient with me over the past several months. I tried to get this chapter out a LOT sooner, like my goal had been to get it out by my birthday which was in June but that ended up not happening. Then, a LOT of shit went down in my life, and it's all the kind of shit that really throws one out of the mindset of writing a romance fic or even just a friendship fic. I don't know when I will be feeling back up to writing this, but I don't want to abandon this fic forever, so don't worry about that.
> 
> Anyway, I've been terrified to go into the Four Swords tag and look at any content because I felt bad about myself for not writing this, but since I've kinda given up for now I don't care, so prepare to see a LOT of me in your notifications lmao. I'm gonna try to leave comments and stuff on everything. And if you like this au or want to talk about other Four Swords stuff, feel free to talk to me on [tumblr](http://www.dicaxasinus.tumblr.com)!
> 
> And just cause I still feel kinda bad for not posting ANYTHING at all, I'm just gonna post the beginning of what I had written. Again, thanks for being so patient and thanks in advance for being so understanding!

“I can’t help but notice that you seem to be in much better spirits than you had been not even a week ago. Shall I assume that getting out of that room has helped?”

Zelda’s tone made it clear that she knew she was right. More importantly, she knew that  _ Shadow _ knew she was right and he could tell that she was frustratingly smug about it. He understood completely - if he’d been the one to prove someone wrong, he’d be smug about it too. The frustrating part was that  _ he’d  _ been the one proven wrong.

“Maybe,” Shadow answered casually, like it  _ hadn’t  _ been what had made his situation start to change. After that first venture, Shadow was forced to see that most of his assumptions had been false - and even those that hadn’t been entirely untrue weren’t as bad as he’d thought. Sure, he still got suspicious looks from time to time, but nobody  _ said _ anything to him. Probably because he wasn’t stupid enough to go around by himself and risk getting accused of sneaking about. Though doing that only meant spending a majority of his time around Green and the rest of them, which was  _ another _ thing that Shadow had been wrong about.

Zelda hummed, giving him a knowing look, and continued. “And how have you been getting along with the others? I’ve heard that you have been spending an awful lot of time with them recently.”

“A little bird tell you that?” A quiet chirp sounded from next to him, making him roll his eyes. “Not you,” he muttered, shooing Sheerow away. The bird took the opportunity to land on Zelda’s shoulder instead, leaning its head into her finger when she pet its head. 

But a moment later, her full attention was on Shadow once again and it felt like she could see right through him. There was no way she  _ didn’t _ already know everything that had happened in the last few days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After that part, I go into like several flashback bits because I'm a cliche. I wish I had all of those finished, but the ones that I have left are a bit too much emotionally for me to go and try to write right now. Sorry again, but I'm looking forward to seeing all the content from the past several months that I've missed!


End file.
